Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has expressed that she would have dismissed West Midlands Police’s chief constable if she had the authority to do so. This statement comes after Craig Guildford announced his retirement on 16 January, following widespread criticism related to the ban on fans of the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv attending a match at Villa Park in November.
The recent government announcement introduces plans to empower ministers with the ability to remove chief constables who are underperforming, a power currently held only by police and crime commissioners. Mahmood told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that she had lost confidence in Guildford amid the controversy surrounding the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.
Following Guildford’s departure, Acting Chief Constable Scott Green took over and acknowledged that West Midlands Police’s handling of the situation had damaged public trust and strained relations with Jewish communities. The force was responsible for assessing security threats ahead of Maccabi’s Europa League match against Aston Villa. However, an initial police watchdog investigation identified “confirmation bias” as a factor influencing the contentious decision to prohibit the traveling fans. The review also highlighted several inaccuracies in a police report prepared before the match, including an erroneous reference to a non-existent fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham.
Mahmood, who represents Birmingham Ladywood and whose local police force is West Midlands Police, emphasized to Kuenssberg the importance of trust in police operational risk assessments. She reiterated that when policing failures occur, it is reasonable for the public to expect decisive action from the home secretary. While resigning, Guildford, 52, did not issue an apology and attributed his departure to what he called a “political and media frenzy.” Additionally, he admitted during parliamentary scrutiny that the mistaken information in the police report had come from the AI tool Microsoft Copilot, contradicting his earlier suggestion that it was found via Google searches or social media.
In response, West Midlands Police announced a review concerning the use of AI, with Acting Chief Constable Green suspending access to Microsoft Copilot across the force’s systems indefinitely. The police also conceded that they had “overstated the evidence” used to justify banning the Maccabi fans and failed to engage sufficiently early with the local Jewish community before making the decision
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.